1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to microwave ovens and, more particularly, to an apparatus for suspending a microwave oven.
2. Description of the Related Art
A microwave oven is a cooking apparatus for making food by means of electromagnetic waves generated from a magnetron therein. Generally, the microwave oven is placed on a lower sink table or in a space provided within a cabinet in the kitchen. Considering a user""s convenience, space for installation or interior design, the microwave oven is sometimes installed over a sink table on the bottom face of an upper cabinet, and is referred to as xe2x80x9ca wall-mounted type microwave oven.xe2x80x9d
Referring to FIG. 5, which is an enlarged perspective view showing a main portion of a conventional wall-mounted microwave oven, the microwave oven is provisionally installed to a support plate 116 of a planar shape fixed to a wall face before it is suspended on the bottom plate of the upper cabinet. The provisional installation of the microwave oven is required because it is not easy to directly suspend the relatively heavy microwave oven over the sink table while lifting up the microwave oven. To facilitate the suspension, the microwave oven is provisionally installed by means of the support plate 116.
A pair of projections (not shown) are provided in the lower part of the support plate 116. Hooking members 118 are disposed over the projections in parallel with each other and between a main body 121 and an outer casing (not shown), as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. The hooking members 118 pass through through holes 135 formed in the main body 121. Each of the hooking members 118 comprises an extension 119 protruding from the planar surface of the support plate 116 and a hook 120 bent downward from an end of the extension 119.
The main body 121 is formed with a cooking chamber 122 and a component chamber 127, and has a rear plate 133 formed with the through holes 135. The outer casing (not shown) encloses the main body 121 and defines an outer appearance of the microwave oven.
An apparatus for suspending the microwave oven is constructed as follows. As shown in FIG. 6, the suspending apparatus comprises the engagement parts (not shown) provided on the bottom of the main body 121 so as to be engaged with the projections of the support plate 116, a reinforcement member 148 installed adjacent to the through hole 135 formed in the rear plate 133 of the main body 121, a movable member 151 coupled to a planar surface of the reinforcement member 148, and an actuating member 153 moving the movable member 151.
The reinforcement member 148 comprises a flat part 149 installed on the rear plate 133, and having an opening communicating with the through hole 135 of the rear plate 133, and a bent part 150 bent transversely relative to the flat part 149. The movable member 151 is hinge-coupled to the plane of the bent part 150 of the reinforcement member 148 by means of a hinge part 157 formed at one end thereof, and is coupled to a fixing point 154 of the reinforcement member 148 spaced from the hinge part 157 via a coil spring 155 at the other end thereof. The movable member 151 also has an engagement part 158 for engagement with the hook 120 of the hooking member 118. The movable member 151 is connected to the actuating member 153 which has the shape of a long rod; and the actuating member 153 is disposed between the main body 121 and the outer casing.
Hereinbelow, the process of provisionally installing the microwave oven to the support plate 116 will be described.
The support plate 116 is firstly fixed to a wall face to which the microwave oven is mounted. The microwave oven is lifted up so that the engagement parts formed in the lower part of the main body 121 are engaged with the projections of the support plate 116. After the engagement parts of the microwave oven are engaged with the projections of the support plate 116, the microwave oven can be rotated vertically relative to the engagement parts and the projections.
A grill member (not shown) is disengaged from the microwave oven, and the actuating member 153 is pulled forward while pushing the microwave oven toward the support plate 115. When the actuating member 153 is pulled forward, the coil spring 155 is extended and the movable member 151 rotates by a predetermined degree. If the microwave oven is pressed to the planar surface of the support plate 116 and then the actuating member 153 is released, the coil spring 155 is retracted and the movable member 151 is rotated reversely, so that the engagement part 158 of the movable member 151 is engaged with the hook 120 of the hooking member 118.
After the microwave oven is provisionally installed to the support plate 116 fixed to the wall face, the suspension of the microwave oven is finished by screw-coupling the outer casing to the upper cabinet.
However, the suspending apparatus for the conventional microwave oven has a complicated structure for provisionally installing the microwave oven to the support plate as shown in FIG. 6, thereby making it difficult to install the microwave oven and further increasing the cost of production.
Further, the length of the extension 119 of the hooking member 118 is short, making narrow a moving space of the engagement part 158 of the movable member 151. In order to solve this problem, the extension 119 of the hooking member 118 may be increased in length; however, in this case, the coupling force of the engagement part of the movable member 151 and the extension of the hooking member 118 becomes feeble. Therefore, when suspending the microwave oven from the shelf plate, the microwave oven may become disengaged from the support plate.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for suspending a microwave oven, allowing the microwave oven to be installed to a support plate with a simplified structure and further reducing the cost of production.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for suspending a microwave oven, with a high coupling force relative to a support plate.
These and other objects of the present invention may be accomplished by provision of an apparatus for suspending a microwave oven which includes a main body having a rear plate formed with a through hole thereon and a cooking chamber formed therein, the apparatus comprising: a support plate mounted to a wall face to which the microwave oven is installed; a hooking member protruding toward the main body through the through hole of the rear plate from a planar surface of the support plate; a plate spring having one end portion fixed to the main body and the other end portion elastically deformable between a first position where the plate spring is disengaged from the hooking member and a second position where the plate spring is engaged with the hooking member; and an actuating member connected between the microwave oven and the plate spring for elastically deforming the plate spring between the first position and the second position.
An elongated hole is formed on the plate spring, and the hooking member is inserted into the elongated hole.
The actuating member is comprised of a shaft taking a long rod shape, crossing the microwave oven, and a bent part bent from an end of the shaft.
The bent part is engaged with a front portion of the main body.
The support plate includes at least one projection protruding from its lower end, supporting the lower part of the microwave oven.
The apparatus further comprises at least one engagement part provided on the bottom of the main body, being engaged with the projection of the support plate.